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Brain Sciences
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Advances in Assessment and Training of Perceptual-Motor Performance (2nd Edition)
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Advances in Assessment and Training of Perceptual-Motor Performance (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensory and Motor Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 456

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Gary Wilkerson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN 37403, USA
Interests: sport-related concussion; assessment of injury risk; perceptual motor training
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Scott L. Bruce

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Masters of Athletic Training Program, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR 72401, USA
Interests: concussion; reaction times; clinical prediction modeling; evidence-based practice; virtual reality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Most human endeavours involve a series of decisions that guide goal-directed interactions with changing environmental conditions. Historically, the brain processes that link sensory inputs and memories to the execution of effective goal-directed actions have been viewed as mysterious, unmeasurable, and unmodifiable. Recent advances in neuroimaging technologies are rapidly increasing our knowledge in this area, but clinical applications of the findings need further development and documentations of their effectiveness. How might the speed and accuracy of perceptual decisions be enhanced among athletes, military personnel, and law enforcement officers? What non-pharmaceutical treatment options might improve specific brain processes that have been impaired by traumatic brain injury, psycho-affective conditions, or neurodegenerative disorders? How might cognitive efficiency be preserved across the lifespan? Can clinically documented improvements in various brain functions be linked to real-world functional performance capabilities?

The purpose of this Special Issue is to gather research pertaining to measurable behaviours or physiological markers that are associated with potentially modifiable brain processes such as selective attention, visual detection, sensory weighting, stimulus discrimination, conflict resolution, decision making, motor control, and bilateral movement symmetry. Any research findings that may contribute to a better understanding of interventions for improvements in the speed, accuracy, and consistency of responses to environmental stimuli are welcomed, as well as content reports relating to the prevention and/or rehabilitation of specific brain-related pathologies.

Prof. Dr. Gary Wilkerson
Dr. Scott L. Bruce
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • perception
  • cognition
  • motor control
  • neural efficiency
  • traumatic brain injury
  • neurodegeneration
  • psycho-affective disorder

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 1513 KiB  
Article
Perceptual Decision Efficiency Is Modifiable and Associated with Decreased Musculoskeletal Injury Risk Among Female College Soccer Players
by Gary B. Wilkerson, Alejandra J. Gullion, Katarina L. McMahan, Lauren T. Brooks, Marisa A. Colston, Lynette M. Carlson, Jennifer A. Hogg and Shellie N. Acocello
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(7), 721; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15070721 - 4 Jul 2025
Viewed by 278
Abstract
Background: Prevention and clinical management of musculoskeletal injuries have historically focused on the assessment and training of modifiable physical factors, but perceptual decision-making has only recently been recognized as a potentially important capability. Immersive virtual reality (VR) systems can measure the speed, accuracy, [...] Read more.
Background: Prevention and clinical management of musculoskeletal injuries have historically focused on the assessment and training of modifiable physical factors, but perceptual decision-making has only recently been recognized as a potentially important capability. Immersive virtual reality (VR) systems can measure the speed, accuracy, and consistency of body movements corresponding to stimulus–response instructions for the completion of a forced-choice task. Methods: A cohort of 26 female college soccer players (age 19.5 ± 1.3 years) included 10 players who participated in a baseline assessment, 10 perceptual-response training (PRT) sessions, a post-training assessment that preceded the first soccer practice, and a post-season assessment. The remaining 16 players completed an assessment prior to the team’s first pre-season practice session, and a post-season assessment. The assessments and training sessions involved left- or right-directed neck rotation, arm reach, and step-lunge reactions to 40 presentations of different types of horizontally moving visual stimuli. The PRT program included 4 levels of difficulty created by changes in initial stimulus location, addition of distractor stimuli, and increased movement speed, with ≥90% response accuracy used as the criterion for training progression. Perceptual latency (PL) was defined as the time elapsed from stimulus appearance to initiation of neck rotation toward a peripheral virtual target. The speed–accuracy tradeoff was represented by Rate Correct per Second (RCS) of PL, and inconsistency across trials derived from their standard deviation for PL was represented by intra-individual variability (IIV). Perceptual Decision Efficiency (PDE) represented the ratio of RCS to IIV, which provided a single value representing speed, accuracy, and consistency. Statistical procedures included the bivariate correlation between RCS and IIV, dependent t-test comparisons of pre- and post-training metrics, repeated measures analysis of variance for group X session pre- to post-season comparisons, receiver operating characteristic analysis, and Kaplan–Meier time to injury event analysis. Results: Statistically significant (p < 0.05) results were found for pre- to post-training change, and pre-season to post-season group differences, for RCS, IIV, and PDE. An inverse logarithmic relationship was found between RCS and IIV (Spearman’s Rho = −0.795). The best discriminator between injured and non-injured statuses was PDE ≤ 21.6 (93% Sensitivity; 42% Specificity; OR = 9.29). Conclusions: The 10-session PRT program produced significant improvement in perceptual decision-making that appears to provide a transfer benefit, as the PDE metric provided good prospective prediction of musculoskeletal injury. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Assessment and Training of Perceptual-Motor Performance (2nd Edition))
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